“Are you ready to stop worrying”
Costa Rica is upon me…. In t-minus 8 hours I will proceed to get on a plane and fly to Costa Rica for the first time. We will be working with kids at the kids’ club along with weeding and planting trees as our primary ministry. How can I ever express the emotions that are going through me and all the thoughts? I am excited to meet so many new people and to experience a year of being immersed in so many different cultures and see so many different places. But I wanted to share with you not just what I am going into, but what I am leaving behind.
A week before training camp I had raised 14% of my funds and I really believed that it just wasn’t going to come together which would mean that I was going to have to change my route to a January route instead of leaving in October. Leaving in January only really had one perk – I wouldn’t miss Thanksgiving or Christmas with my family. But my heart was really set on leaving in October. I had prayed about it and it wasn’t that I didn’t think that God could do it because we all know he can, but I was fearful that it wasn’t going to work out the way I had it planned. I hadn’t bought my plane ticket yet either, since I didn’t want to pay for a flight that I wasn’t going to use. I was doing fundraisers so it wasn’t like I wasn’t trying to make it happen but I didn’t want to count on it too much. I do this so much in life, I try not to get super excited about something because odds are that it will fall through or that something will come up. When a generous friend donated $2,000 to my fundraising, which sent me to training camp, I was in a whirlwind of so much excitement and confirmation that I was doing the right thing. Along with this came a little freaking out because I now had to pack and get everything ready to leave for training camp
Fast-forward to this last week of my crazy hectic life… I have been working every day, having coffee with friends to say goodbye along with tons of running around trying to get everything done on time. It’s been pretty surreal, and to top it off I am terrible at goodbyes. I hate saying goodbye to my comfort zone. I cried a lot as I walked away from Church, from my job at REI, & from my closest friends. The thing is I hate it when people would say “Hey don’t cry. Everything will be okay,” Or “You don’t need to cry. Nothing is wrong and you are going on a really cool adventure.” I am not crying because I am mad or upset, I am simple crying because I am going to miss everyone. That feeling is okay, it means that these people have had a huge impact on who I am and I genuinely love who they are and the time that I get to spend with them. I am so excited about this trip, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to get to travel to 11 countries! That really is not something everyone gets to do, and I totally understand that. I am just simply going to miss home and the people in Washington. Now as I am sitting here in Tennessee, visiting my brothers thinking about all the ways I could get out of this situation and just run home back, I have an immense hope that everything will be okay. Granted I will miss everyone at home, heck I haven’t even been away from a them for a week. But in no way do I worry about this next year. I am fully aware that it is going be hard and at times it is really going to suck, but I have faith in a God who is so much larger than anything I can think up. Before I even know it, this year will be done and I’ll be back home hugging everyone and being so excited to see them while remembering this trip.
And so the adventure continues until next time………………………In Los Chiles, Costa Rica
SIDE NOTE: We have raised 10,000 dollars!! That is an amazing amount!! I am so grateful for everyone who has had a hand in this! If you would continue to pray for me, I would appreciate it. I am still able to leave on the trip but have just a little under $6,000 to go to be fully funded!
PRAYER: I would love if ya’ll would pray for me, financially as I have just been feeling really weighed down by making my goal but also my personal money has really gone into this and I really don’t have much left. In that I just would love to give this to the Lord and not worry. Thank you for all that ya’ll, I truly to appreciate everyone who has put so much prayer and love into me!
